9.Races in April & May 2024

I chose this race for Philly because of the varying distances. Initially, I wanted to sign up for the 5K, but since I had new goals for the new year when I signed up, I thought 10K is a good challenge for an away from home race.  When I arrived at the Convention Center, I was excited because there were all these treats being offered and also photo opportunities after I picked up my race swag and bib. During the Expo, I ended up standing around a table and meeting this nice lady who I chatted with for a good 10 to 15 minutes about running.  I asked her about Philly races and her experiences. It's nice to be able to talk to strangers and relate to them! So on Saturday, I walked about 25 minutes from my hotel near the Convention Center to Eakins Oval. The race was set to start at 8am for the 10k and 15k runners, while the race had already started at 7am for the 5k runners. No matter where I go for a race, I'm always nervous because it's a foreign route to me, and I don't know anyone that is running. But that's part of the excitement. I won't know when there is a hill or when the race will be easy. I just know that I've trained for this. As I walked into the corrals, it starts with F and I was assigned G. Haha. There was probably a significantly less bunch of runners for these distances than the 5K, which makes sense. At no point did I look back to see how many people were behind me. I was focused on what's in front of me. All throughout this race, I did feel some people pass me, but towards the 2nd half, I saw way less people surrounding me, but I did see the people behind me and there were a lot of them. I was super appreciative of the pacers on the course on the first half, who went on to pace the 15k runners. They were probably behind me the whole time up until the last 5 minutes of the first half because I saw them slightly pass me and the guy yelling encouraging words for the 9:30 min/mi paced runners. Then I saw the water stop and the gummy bears cups. That's when i lost sight of the pacers and the route was a turnaround for the 10K runners. While I started the race with a very dry throat, I only took 2 cups of water that weren't very full and a gummy bear cup. I needed something to chew on and for the second half of the race, I didn't bother with anything else to drink. End result, I PR'd this race. 58:20 was my time. My first 10K race outside NYC and I PR'd!

This 5K race sold out in 1 day. 10,000 runners and they tell you in advance when to sign up and that it will likely sell out at the end of the day. It did. I wanted to run this race because it's before their famous marathon and the course itself passes through the finish line, which I thought was cool. They have a series that includes the 10K and the marathon. Perhaps next year I'd do the 10K and I'm not fast enough or ready for the marathon. Another cool thing to point out is that their medal features a unicorn which is cute. It's actually by far, my favorite medal without the tackiness.  While I ran my 2nd best time of 28:11. Central Park still owns me! LOL. It was relatively flat for a 5K, no dying hills. I will admit that there were far too many walkers on the first mile of the course that I weaved in and out of traffic. So the last thing I expected was a huge bag of goodies and tons of hydration after the race. They handed out a huge bag of snacks, bananas, unlimited gatorade and water, and then some tents were giving away maxi pads and some scarf towel.  The coolest thing about this race was for the first time ever, I met up with an Osprey on an out of town race! I mean Meredith lives in Boston but that was cool! I got to talk to her about how she joined the team and how her marathon journey began, and she had all these positive vibes about my journey, which I appreciated. It's really cool and inspirational how she, too, is a runner who started running within the past decade and have ran 6? marathons, and off to London next week!  I know a lot of these out of town races, I'm on my own and there is no one cheering (and that's fine). What I've realized is that the crowd isn't a huge factor for me. Unless I know you---it's not that big of a deal if I have anyone cheering at all. My concentration is always set on the race itself and I don't really look out at faces.

This was the turnaround block...I remember the firehouse. It's funny when they get a photo of me with 2 thumbs up, smiling. Of course, I checked my watch to see my time after the bridge photographer area. I know I was close to the finish and that's when I sped up.

When I got to the Boston Common, I was walking to the tshirt pickup area but an official race photographer snapped my shot here. Then post-race, they captured runners with medals. Finally, after I picked up my bag of goodies, I decided to wait on a short line to have my photo taken with the background. 

Hands up!! If you check out my 5K video on IG, you'll see me flap my wings. It was also kind of hard to just because I was surrounded by people and in close proximity to them. I didn't want them to clip my wings! LOL. I feel like I should pose differently each time I reach the finish line and have a collection of random poses. Overall, it was a fun race, despite the messy start of 2 corrals and 10,000 runners.

I arrived at Central Park about an hour before the race began. I was ready or was I? After meeting members of Team Osprey at Corral E for a team photo, I walked with Michelle to Corral H since we were both going to start there. It was my first time meeting her in person so that was nice to chitchat a bit before we were released. Once we ran our separate ways, I knew almost immediately that this race wasn't going to feel all that great. Was it the water bottle I had with me? Was it eating a PB sandwich earlier that morning? Was I feeling nervous? Well, I wasn't feeling it---but I did peek at my watch several times and saw that I was running at a 8 to 9 min/mi pace. After 2 miles, I knew halfway through meant that I couldn't stop. Mile 3, I thought, it's highly possible for me to PR if I kept going at my pace. Once I saw the Team Osprey flag, I had to force a smile despite my inner pain/nausea. Cheers from the team meant a lot to me despite feeling like shit. Alex shouting Let's go Knicks made me feel better. Haha. I swear, that boost of positive energy pushed me forward, as it always does. As I hit the finish line, I was done. This race was over. 36:04 and yes, it was a PR by almost 2 minutes! I went to bag check, picked up my bag, met up with my friend, Al for a photo, then headed over to the kids races to watch James (Alex 's nephew) and Lucas (Niels and Gemma's son) run their cute  race (150 ft). 

 **Quite frankly, I never cared about what people think about me, nor do I have to explain myself but if I'm part of a TEAM, I like to support members however, I see fit. I have a lot of time in my day to set aside for others. Whether or not someone needs my support, I have an interest in being present in someone's life. In my life, I do things because it has meaning to me. 

Note to self: I feel like when I drink water while running, air bubbles tend to form inside and I find myself wanting to burp it out. When I drink too much, I have these hip discomfort while running (side stitches?)... so these races and runs that I go on, it's a journey to figuring things out. 

Thanks McKenzie for the group photo and thanks, Lynn for this wingspan shot!

I set my alarm to 4:30 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., just so that I can get ready and be fully wide awake for this race. Got on the train around 5:15 a.m. and arrived to Flushing Meadows Park around 7:00 a.m. When I transferred at Queensboro Plaza to the 7 train, I immediately sat down and saw Tanya right across from me!  It reminded me of the time I saw Karen on the F/G train, same car,  to the Frosty 5K! Anyway, I chatted with Tanya about sneakers and we stretched at the park before we went to bag check and the corrals to meet up with some Osprey. Lisa ended up going back one corral to Corral G to run with me! This would be the first race at Corral G for me. Super happy! Once the race started, I felt fine and eventually lost sight of Lisa. Then suddenly I saw her again, then lost her when she got water...then she caught up...and stayed in front until the finish. At the end, she told me about running tangents and it hadn't occurred to me to do that. Funny thing was... I always love hugging the outside (right), of the race because there are less people "in my way." The left tends to bunch up and appear slow me down a lot. Of course I do find myself weaving in and out of traffic--- now that I know about running tangents, I will try my best to attempt those as a challenge.  On this race, it didn't matter, because I PR'd, but Lisa did beat me despite falling behind twice!  So that says to me that I am running more mileage or slowing down? For all races, I'm not racing another person at all. All I care about is my performance and if that is progress on my part. If I learned something on a race, I like challenging myself to do better or correct / improve on things. I'm not competitive against others (to beat them or their time). I'm happiest when I beat my own time!! So I was very proud to have PR'd even if it's by 2 seconds. 

Team Osprey photos!

I signed up for this race because it was my 1st race ever  since I started running. Not only that, 13 years ago in 2011, this very race, I signed up just to walk in memory of my late father, who passed away due to heart failure.  One of the many reasons why I started to run is for heart health. 

I worked from home on Thursday because I no longer work in the Financial District office, so after work I rode the subway to the race starting line. I stood at the front because there was space for me as I saw a lot of corporate companies surround me. I never stood in the front so it was cool to not be the fastest and be able to stand out front. Before I started, I took off my light jacket and wrapped it around my waist. As soon as I started running, something felt off about the sleeves flopping around. It was when I ran past the Oculus, I felt a few pops of the snap buttons that were previously affixed to my shirt that held my bib--- my bib was literally hanging on by a single snap button and safety pin, as I uttered, "Oh, shit!" As my bib flopped around as we turned onto Liberty Street right around the water stop, I had remembered that I had on my Brooks belt and on it, was an emergency safety pin. I quickly unhooked the pin and secured the 2nd half of my bib to my shirt. Then I noticed that my light jacket was suddenly loose and falling down my waist! I'm still running at this point and I untied it around my waist and put on  my jacket. I knew it would get warm wearing it, but I had no other choice at that point. It was on Water Street for which I really wanted some water (fittingly) so I grabbed a bottle and drank a few sips before resuming to run. I knew that perhaps drinking water would affect the rest of the race for me. But I needed it. As we passed by the outskirts of Battery Park, I was truly feeling it---nausea of water, the feeling of needing to burp it out or possibly vomit it all out. So I gave myself an out---a walk break, knowing that perhaps, I'd lose out on some seconds and won't get the time I wanted. Right before the last turn before the water views, I walked for about 30 seconds and resume running. I know I did not look well. My face was probably expressing that of someone suffering, but as I continued on, as Ed Sheeran's Shivers played in my ears, I saw mile 3, and i saw the finish line. My legs couldn't go faster, I did not have that energy to surge ahead with full force as much as I wanted to. I pushed and I know had I not felt the way I did, I would have pushed harder, but I couldn't. As I crossed the finish lines and stopped my watch, I uttered the very word I say each time I finish a race and it was hard, "F*CK."  Yes, good ol' angelic me who rarely says it as a part of my everyday language, if I were to ever be on camera, you'd hear it or see me mouth that word after a hard race. In a way, it is a way of me expressing how glad I am that it's over and that I did it. I finished the race. As I walked away from the finish line, I saw someone handing out popsicles, and I took one, and went for the water and snacks. I sat at the finish plaza for a good 10 minutes before departing the area. When I checked my Strava, I found out that I PR'd and was in disbelief, but at the same time, I took a photo of the QR code to fact check my time and see if in fact, if I did PR. I DID, by 2 seconds from my last race. The irony.

When I looked up this race, I frowned at the idea that it took place during Memorial Day weekend. I'm not someone who likes to travel during major holidays. I like traveling when less people are traveling, LOL. But given that I didn't have to take any days off of work, I couldn't pass it up. I stayed at Hotel Lafayette and was within 3 minutes walking to the Convention Center. Bib and shirt pickup was same day, so to avoid having to carry something, I returned to the hotel and dropped off my shirt with plenty of time to head back to the start line.  The weather was 60s and cloudy. As most races start, I always feel good about it, but sometime along the route, I struggle, usually around mile 2, and when mile 3 hits, I am elated. I don't know why I felt like shit around mile 2, but it must have been the soda I drank the day before that made me feel all queasy or "burpy" as air bubbles caused me to feel queasy. Let's just say that while I didn't take any water breaks, I did walk for perhaps 10-20 seconds (for reasons I will not divulge here. The final couple of miles was when I focused on running behind this older guy with orange pants (he was my pacer) and while he was quite a bit ahead when I walked for that short span, I did manage to catch up and pass him. Towards the very end, when we all rounded that last corner, I saw the finish line and ran the fastest as I could. Hearing the lady with the bull horns on her head announce my name (full name) as I neared the finish line, that was the coolest when she mentioned my wingspan. It made me feel seen like completely acknowledged. I've realized that I don't need fans on the course to cheer me on, I just need it at the end. I also need to figure out how to tune out my thoughts, how to avoid feeling like shit, I need to walk if anything hurts, I need to figure out how to hydrate/eat on race day because last several races have not been great, DESPITE THE PRs. So I did PR on this race. 27:17, this time includes my walk portion of the race! It pays to walk because you refuel that energy!